Office Hours
by Christina TM
Summary: Slices of Pike's life around Starfleet Academy before & after the movie. Chapter 9 - Form Fitting
1. The Typo

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of these characters except the ones you don't recognize.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: A series of one-shots written in moments of distraction from grad school. Will update as the muse descends and time permits. I just really wanted to examine life around the Academy. Many OCs and regulars will make appearances too. And despite the title, they won't just be in the office.

The idea for this chapter came about when I almost uploaded a story with this particular typo. Written in about 30 minutes.

OFFICE HOURS

By Christina TM

**The Typo**

You had to be smart to get into Starfleet Academy. A kid who could get into the Academy could have gotten into Harvard, Berkeley, Cambridge—almost anywhere he wanted. Nobody went to the Academy as a last choice.

Some of the kids who got in were so smart they were almost stupid. The kind of person who could calculate a thermodynamic equation in his head and would forget the normal things, like doing the dishes or returning a message.

"Capt. Pike?"

Pike looked to the door of his office. "Ah, Cadet Ironside," he greeted the young woman in his doorway. "Ironside" seemed such a rough-and-tumble last name for the cute blond budding trauma surgeon. "Come on in."

Ironside stepped in, stood exactly eighteen inches from Pike's desk, and snapped to attention.

"At ease," Pike instructed. "And sit down."

Ironside gracefully sat in the chair opposite the desk, keeping her back straight.

"Cadet," Pike began. "You are aware that the spell checkers on the computer don't catch every error?"

"Of course I am, sir."

"And you're a smart girl, so I assume you also manually check your work before you submit it?"

"Always, captain." Ironside paused. "Is there a problem?"

Pike reached to his right and handed Ironside a datapad copy of her final essay for the spring semester. "Take a look at the header."

Ironside obeyed, but her face showed no reaction.

"My name?" Pike prompted.

Ironside's blue eyes widened. "Oh, my gosh."

Pike started to laugh. "It's a perfectly legitimate word, cadet. That's why the checker didn't catch it."

"Oh, no." Ironside looked up, face bright red. "Sir, I'm…the 'U' is right next to the 'I'—"

Pike reached across the desk and placed his hand over the cadet's wrist. "Ironside, I'm not angry with you. I won't even mark you down for it. I just want you to be aware."

"Oh, I will be, sir." Ironside nodded, the flush fading. "Believe me. I will be."

"That's all, cadet. Dismissed."

Ironside rose, straightened to attention, and left.

Once she was gone, Pike looked down at the pad and shook his head. He was putting this in a safe place. A very safe place. Somewhere he could take it out and chuckle at it every now and then but no one else could find it and use it as ammo on him.

_Hm. _Pike opened the folder titled "I'd Tell You but I'd Have to Kill You." It was where he kept all the sensitive information no computer-savvy cadet was supposed to see. _I'll just put it here. _

He saved it as "_Yorktown _Weapons Inventory," but not before he took one last look at the unfortunate error.

"'Capt. Puke'," Pike muttered as he hit "save."


	2. Birthday Blues

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I have seen many instances of the famous Hurt Jim and Comforting Bones. However, I have noticed a distinct lack of Hurt Jim and Comforting Pike. So, here you go.

Written in 45 minutes in the backseat of my car driving to Florida for a wedding when there was no more light to read homework.

**BIRTHDAY BLUES**

Pike made it a point to do something for the cadets he sponsored on their birthdays. Usually it just amounted to finding them in the hall and saying "Happy birthday." A lot of them were far away from home and with the demanding Academy schedule had no chance of seeing their families anytime soon. Just the fact that he remembered never failed to bring a smile to the kids' faces.

But today, March 22, the birthday boy was nowhere to be found.

Pike searched the campus up and down, inside and out, before he finally went to Medical and tracked down McCoy. "You know where Kirk is?"

"He's probably down by the bay," McCoy responded. He looked at Pike a moment before adding, "It's his birthday, you know."

"Yes, that's why—" Pike broke off when the meaning jelled in his mind. _Shoot. Of course. _"Thanks, McCoy." He ran out of Medical and headed for the bay.

He hadn't even considered that Kirk's birthday was the same day the _Kelvin _had been destroyed. Of course he _knew_, but he hadn't made the connection that the reason Kirk was making himself scarce was that he didn't want any birthday wishes.

So the whole happy birthday thing could go. But there was no way Pike was just going to leave without at least making sure Kirk was OK.

He found the cadet sitting by San Francisco Bay, wearing a pair of sweatpants and a dark blue T-shirt. Knees pulled up to his chest, arms wrapped around his shins, looking out at the water.

There were some parts of command Chris Pike was good at. In all fairness, _most _parts of command he was good at. But dealing with emotionally distraught crew members had never been one of them.

Pike had often wished he could be the Jonathan Archer type of captain, the kind who could come up beside a hurting subordinate, place an arm around their shoulders, offer a sympathetic ear and maybe a pep talk, and then dust them off and send them back to duty. Archer would freely admit his compassion could be his undoing, but nearly everyone who'd served under him talked about his warm and generous nature. _"He had a heart the size of the Alpha Quadrant," _Travis Mayweather once recalled. _"Whenever one of us needed him…he was just always there."_

That just wasn't who Pike was. Dealing with strong emotion made him uncomfortable. But Kirk needed him, subpar counseling skills and all.

So Pike came up next to Kirk without a word and sat beside him, mirroring the younger man's posture.

It took a few minutes for Kirk speak. "How did you know I was here?"

Pike thought it best not to rat out McCoy. "A hunch," he fudged. This particular spot near the water wasn't an uncommon hideout for melancholy cadets. He saw a small recording device in Kirk's right hand. "What you got there?"

Instead of answering, Kirk hit the "play" button and handed the player to Pike.

The captain had to hold the speaker up to his ear to hear anything. He frowned when he heard the sound of a baby crying.

"_What is it?" _A man's voice asked eagerly.

"_It's a boy," _a woman responded.

"_A boy?" _

Pike gasped softly. _That's George and Winona._

"_Tell me about him," _George said.

"_He's beautiful," _Winona hiccupped. _"George, you should be here."_

_This is the final recording from the _Kelvin, Pike realized. He'd never heard it. Not even when he was writing his dissertation.

"_Impact alert," _a computerized voice said softly.

"_What are we going to call him?" _George rushed out.

"_We could name him after your father."_

George barked a laugh. _"Tiberius? Are you kidding me? No! That's the worst. Let's name him after your dad. Let's call him Jim."_

Pike felt his eyes misting over.

"_Jim," _Winona almost whispered. _"OK. Jim it is."_

"_Sweetheart, can you hear me?" _George said frantically.

"_Yes!" _Winona was crying. _"Yes, I hear you!"_

"_I love you so much. I love—"_

The recording dissolved into quiet static followed by eerie silence, and Pike swallowed down the tightness in his throat. He remembered leaving the _Kelvin _in the escape shuttle with Lt. Racke, his biggest worry being his dissertation. Then they'd gotten to the surface of Sigma 7 and Pike found out about George, and his dissertation seemed spectacularly unimportant.

"I miss him," Kirk said when Pike handed the recorder back. "I miss my father and I never even met him."

Pike had no idea what to say, so he lifted his hand to Kirk's upper back. He was surprised when Kirk leaned sideways into his shoulder.

"How well did you know him, sir?" Kirk asked quietly.

Pike had to clear his throat before answering. "He was a couple of years ahead of me at the Academy. But after we'd been on the _Kelvin _for a little while, I knew him pretty well."

"What was he like?"

_Where do I start? _"I ever tell you about the emergency haircut he gave me?"

Kirk looked up. "Sir?"

Pike smiled at the memory. "Well, Capt. Robau wasn't one for the spit and polish, and the _Kelvin _was a heavy cruiser, not exactly the Federation's flagship. I went a little too long without a haircut and got this scraggly mullet."

"You, sir?"

Pike nodded. "So we'd been deployed for awhile and were scheduled for formal inspection. Mullets aren't exactly regulation, but we were all going so crazy trying to get the ship sparkling clean that I forgot about it.

"I was walking down the hall to the inspection and your dad saw me. He said, 'Chris, your hair!' And before I knew what was happening, he yanked me into his quarters, found a pair of scissors, and sliced my mullet off."

Kirk was laughing now.

"It looked awful, but Adm. LaForge didn't notice," Pike went on. "That night your mom and a few of the ladies sat me down and fixed it."

"Wow," Kirk chuckled.

"And he loved you," Pike said.

"He didn't even know me," Kirk retorted with a touch of bitterness.

"You can miss him without knowing him; couldn't he love you without knowing you?" Pike postulated, falling back on his professorial nature. "When your mom found out she was pregnant…there wasn't a happier dad-to-be in the galaxy than yours. I remember that." Pike recalled George grinning like a fool, even through his shift on the bridge.

"There was this other time, right before we left on the _Kelvin_, he got in this bar fight…"

* * *

Kirk let himself relax, his head falling to rest in the hollow of Pike's shoulder. Pike's deep voice vibrated through his chest, punctuated by the steady thump of his heart. Kirk closed his eyes, focused more on the sound than the words Pike was saying.

After awhile Pike fell silent. Kirk stayed curled against his side, endlessly grateful for the support and comfort.

All his life James T Kirk had railed against God, or the universe, or whatever had been so cruel as to take his father from him.

Today was the first time he stopped to be grateful for the one he'd gotten instead.


	3. FiftyTwo is Just a Number

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I meant for this to actually take place in Pike's office, but then the ending snuck up on me and it was too good to resist. I seem to have belied both the title and summary of the story: This neither involves the office nor is it set at the Academy.

Another quick one. Written in about 15 minutes. Huzzah.

**Fifty-Two is Just a Number**

"Capt. Pike?"

Pike turned from his conversation with Spock. "What is it, Chekov?"

The Russian whiz kid had turned from his station at the helm, looking slightly uncomfortable. "Sir…some of us vere vondering…"

"Yes?" Pike prompted.

"How old are you, sir?"

"Ens. Chekov," Spock began. "That is not an appropriate—"

"Spock," Pike cut him off halfheartedly. _Well, I've gotten stranger questions. _He leaned forward, rested his forearms on his knees, and regarded the ensign with a gently playful expression. "How old do you think I am?"

The teenager's eyes went wide and he exchanged a look with Sulu.

_Ah, so these two are in cahoots, _Pike thought dryly. _A bet's probably been made. _"Chekov, whatever you have to say, it won't offend me."

Chekov swallowed. "I…forty, captain?"

Pike smiled at him. "I'm fifty-two, Chekov."

The teenager's jaw dropped. "Fifty-two?!"

Pike nodded. "Yeah."

Chekov looked his captain up and down. "Capt. Pike, you are older zen my papa!" His eyes settled on Pike's. "Vhat are you doing here?"

Sulu smacked his arm. "Pavel!"

"Vhat?" Chekov turned to his fellow helmsman. "It is a legitimate question!"

Before Pike could think of a response, never mind spit it out, the turbolift doors whooshed open and the sound of heavy footfalls filled the bridge.

"Captain! Capt. Pike! You have to stop the ship…"


	4. Apples to Apples

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Phil Boyce is CMO of the _Enterprise _under Pike, in the unaired pilot "The Cage."

Once again, written too quickly because I was tired of writing about Hamas for a research paper.

**Apples to Apples**

_2232_

"Morning."

Lt. Christopher Pike glanced up from his breakfast. "Hi, George."

The _Kelvin_'s first officer looked him over. "Someone had a bad night."

"I didn't get to sleep until 0400."

George blinked. "Why?"

Pike yawned. "You wanna sit down, George?" He offered.

George set his tray on the table and sat down in one fluid motion. "Why were you up until 0400?"

"Dissertation."

George had been lifting his coffee cup to his lips, but at Pike's explanation set it down and gave his shipmate a disapproving look. "You were working on that last night?"

Pike lifted bleary eyes. "Should I not have been?"

"It was Friday night! And you were playing chess with Boyce until…what, midnight?"

"I went back to my quarters and wrote for four hours," Pike said.

"It's 0700 now."

"Yeah."

"That's less than three hours of sleep."

Pike took a bite of his toast. "I did pass astrophysics, George. I can do the math." He swallowed. "Where's Winona?"

George shrugged. "Back in our quarters. She's got some kind of stomach bug." He eyed Pike critically. "Seriously, Chris. You can't expect to work the next eight hours like this."

Pike scrubbed a hand over his face. "Maybe I'll go see Phil for a stim or something."

"I wouldn't recommend it."

Pike lifted an eyebrow, taken aback by George's quick response. "Excuse me?"

"Boyce might be in one of his moods today."

Pike dropped his utensils and gave George a puzzled stare. "Why?"

George feigned innocence. "Just a hunch." He began shining an apple on his uniform.

Pike narrowed his eyes at the other officer. Their XO was a great jokester. "George—"

"_ACK!" _The unmistakable voice of the _Kelvin_'s CMO came from the other side of the room, causing every head in the mess hall to turn. "Son of a—"

Pike turned back to George. "What did you—"

George took a bite out of the apple. "Gotta go!" He stood and scurried out of the hall, leaving a very tired and confused Chris Pike in his wake.

* * *

_2258_

"All targets destroyed, sir."

Pike felt his mouth settle into a fine line as he watched the _Kobayashi Maru _scenario conclude. _Oh really, _he thought dryly.

"Begin rescue of the stranded crew," Kirk said quickly. "So!" He stood from the captain's chair and moved toward the helm. "We've managed to eliminate all enemy ships, no one on board was injured, and the successful rescue of the _Kobayashi Maru _crew is…underway."

The kid munched on his apple and gave Pike a cocky grin.

Before he could make the mistake of dignifying Kirk with so much as a glare, Pike turned back to Spock. "How the hell did that kid beat your test?"

Spock looked from Pike to the simulator bridge and back again. "I do not know," he nearly breathed.

"Well, find out," Pike said, a bit more irritably than perhaps he should have. He took one more look at Kirk, who was still chewing the apple and giving Pike that _look_ that could infuriate a Vulcan.

_Honestly. _Pike stalked out of the observation deck, ready to give Kirk the debriefing of his life. _And what's with them and the apples, anyway?_


	5. Male Bonding

AUTHOR'S NOTES: If you haven't read any of my _Star Trek: 2009 _fanfiction, you probably won't know who the Adm. April in this chapter is. I'd suggest you read "The Good Shepherd," "Deal or No Deal," and/or "Absolution" if you want to know.

I was sick and couldn't concentrate on homework anymore. So the muse descended. And for this one I actually have Pike back in his office.

**Male Bonding**

"Capt. Pike?"

Pike looked up from the pile of datapads on his desk. "Hi, Spock," he greeted his former science officer. "Can I help you?"

Spock eyed the disorderly desk. "Are you busy, captain?"

"Not particularly," Pike sat back in his chair. "What's on your mind?"

Spock stepped in to the office. "May I ask you something, sir?"

"Sit down, Spock." Pike gestured to the chair opposite his desk. "And yes, you may."

The Vulcan folded his hands in his lap. "It is of a somewhat personal nature."

Pike nodded slowly. "OK."

"Captain, do you consider Adm. April your friend?"

Pike couldn't hide his surprise at the question. "He's my brother-in-law, Spock; of course I do. You know that."

Spock nodded once. "I do, captain. However, I have noticed that most of your interactions consist of…verbally abusing one another."

Pike choked down a laugh at the Vulcan's choice of words. "I suppose that's true," he mused.

"I am curious as to why, if you consider the admiral your friend, you treat one another in such a manner."

Pike clasped his hands together."Well, it's…" he took a breath. "It's hard to explain." He sighed. "I…" He shrugged. "It's…how human males are," he finished lamely.

Spock, however, did not seem offended by his superior's lack of eloquence. "Fascinating."

"All right." Pike sat forward, determined to give a cogent explanation if it killed him. "Men don't…we don't express…affection for each other…"

"Am I making you uncomfortable, sir?"

_Oh, beyond belief. _"No," Pike lied. "Look. Rob—Adm. April—I would do just about anything for him. I once disobeyed a direct order and took the _Rotterdam _back to some godforsaken planet to get him after an away mission went bad. I couldn't love him any more if he actually were my brother. But if I ever told him that, I think he might strangle me."

A light of understanding dawned in Spock's eyes, and Pike relaxed a little. "So you do love him, but it is unnatural for you to say so, so you act in the opposite way," Spock reasoned.

"Essentially."

"That is most illogical."

Pike laughed. "Maybe, but it's the truth."

Spock nodded. "Thank you, sir. That was…most enlightening."

_If you say so. _"Any other questions about the human condition?" Pike asked.

Spock raised a brow. "Perhaps you can explain why young human females squeal?"

"No, Spock. That I can't help you with."


	6. Along Came a Spider

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Again, if you have not read my Pike/April stories before you may not quite get this. Go to my profile and read "Absolution" and/or "Do the Dew" if you want to understand Pike's relationship with Sarah and Rob.

If you wish, picture Jeff Bridges as April and Sigourney Weaver as Sarah.

I put considerably more effort into this than my other installments…we're talking 2 nights instead of 1. LOL.

**Along Came a Spider**

"Chris!"

Pike froze at his sister's terrified shriek. "Sarah, what is it?"

Dr. Sarah April was precariously perched on the chair in her office, pointing at the corner. "Chris! Kill it!"

"Kill what?"

"The spider!"

Pike felt his eyebrows raise. "The spider?"

"Yes!" Sarah whirled to face him and nearly fell off her chair.

"No!"

"What?!"

"Sarah, you are fifty-eight years old," Pike said. "I'm not killing a spider for you."

Sarah scurried onto the desk. "Not even with your phaser?"

Pike tugged at the hem of his gray jacket. "Academy dress, Sarah. I'm not armed."

"Can't you find someone who is?"

It was all Pike could do not to roll his eyes. "You're a captain in Starfleet and you're scared of a little spider?"

Sarah reached out and grabbed his arm, tugging him over to her. _"That," _she pointed at the offending arachnid, "is _not _'a little spider.'"

"Ooh." Pike grimaced at the black and yellow spider sitting on the wall. It was a good four inches long. "Yeah, that's not little."

"Can you kill it?"

"Um…" Pike looked around. "Got anything you can throw at it?"

Sarah handed him a datapad. "It's broken anyway."

Pike took aim and tossed the pad at the spider.

Sarah screeched and almost toppled over on her brother. "It's not dead!"

"Will you relax?" Pike snapped as the spider scurried across the floor. "I'll just step on it." He lifted his foot.

"No!"

Pike was tempted to see if he was on some kind of hidden camera. "No?"

"It'll be gross!"

"'_Gross'?!" _Chris repeated. "You're a doctor, Sarah!"

"Just…throw it out the window or something."

The spider had crawled up on the wall and was sitting still for the moment. "Get me your umbrella." Pike held his hand out.

Without getting off the chair, Sarah found her heinously pink flowery umbrella and gave it to her brother.

_I can't believe I'm doing this. _"Open the window."

While Sarah pushed the button to raise the glass, Pike gently poked at the spider until it crawled onto the tip of the umbrella. "All right." He slowly brought the umbrella around—amidst no small amount of terrified whimpers from his older sister—and held it out the window.

"Wait!" Sarah grabbed his shoulder. "Is anyone down there?"

For a second time Pike avoided the eye-roll. He leaned over and observed the empty sidewalk. "No."

"OK. You can let him go then."

This time Pike did roll his eyes. _Bombs away. _He tapped the umbrella twice on the sill until the spider fell off.

"There." Pike handed the umbrella back. "Christopher Pike, Starfleet captain and exterminator-on-call, at your service." He took Sarah's hand and helped her off the unstable chair.

"Thank you," Sarah said when she was settled on the floor. "You eat lunch yet?"

"I was on my way." Pike turned toward the door and discovered Sarah's husband in the doorway, hands on hips, an expression of exasperated disapproval on his face.

"You two—" Rob gestured to his wife and brother-in-law "—are _pathetic. _You know that, right?"


	7. The Defroster

AUTHOR'S NOTES: School got crazy and I haven't been able to update, but I haven't abandoned this little collection. But I had week of fall break, so I wrote something :).

Since I seem to have taken up "fancasting" my OCs (or semi-OCs): picture Amanda Bynes as Colt, if you wish.

THE DEFROSTER

JM Colt, newly assigned yeoman to Starfleet Academy, shivered as she shuffled along the hallways to Capt. Pike's office. The climate control had malfunctioned during the night, and it was now a frosty fifty degrees inside. Outside was not much better. Whoever had decided to give the women's uniforms miniskirts, Colt thought, should be slapped.

Whoever had given her this assignment ought to be slapped, too. Colt had only been at the Academyfor a week, but it was enough to know Capt. Pike scared her to death. She wasn't quite sure why. He hadn't been unkind to her, but something about him made her brain freeze every time he looked in her direction. It was getting exhausting.

Colt arrived at her destination and knocked. "Capt. Pike? It's Yeoman Colt." _Maybe he won't be here…_

"Come in, yeoman." The captain's voice sounded tense.

Colt tensed as she stepped through the door. _Is he angry? I wonder what's wrong?_

"Captain!" Colt yelped before she could stop herself. Pike was sitting at his desk, huddled in a blanket. "Sir, are you all right?"

Pike looked up. "Don't know if you heard, yeoman. The climate control's in overdrive. Gonna start snowing in here any minute."

"I'm aware of that, sir," Colt stammered.

"Think you could get me a cup of hot tea?" Pike asked. "I'd get it myself, but I'm a little busy here."

"Yes, sir. Of course." Colt bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. Pike, who could probably maintain the spit and polish even as his ship broke apart around him, looked utterly comical at the moment. "Peppermint, correct?"

Pike arched an eyebrow at her. "You think this is funny, yeoman?"

"No, sir."

Pike leaned forward, drawing the blanket tighter around himself. "You just happened upon a Starfleet captain wrapped up in a blanket shivering in his boots and you don't find it funny?"

"No, captain."

Pike leaned back. "Gotta work on that, Miss Colt."

Colt felt her stomach drop. "Work on what, sir?"

"You thinking this is funny." Pike gave her a little smile. "I can't have a yeoman without a sense of humor."

Colt felt her nerves dissipate as she smiled back. _Maybe he's not so bad after all._


	8. On the Fly

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I got this idea from the gag reel on the DVD. If you haven't watched it yet, you need to. It will change your life.

**On the Fly**

"I can't _believe _you let me do that!"

Sarah sighed and rested her forehead on her hand. Somehow, when her husband and brother got into an argument, it always wound up in Starfleet Medical.

"What did you expect me to do?" Rob asked, following an irate Chris into the hallway.

Chris whirled to face his brother-in-law. "You let me make a _speech _with my _fly down!"_

Sarah nearly choked on her coffee.

"We've already established what I did; now what did you _expect _me to do?" Rob tried to reason. _Good luck, honey._

"I hate making speeches anyway, and you let me do it _with my fly down!" _Chris railed.

"You fight like your sister, you know that?" Rob said in his typical unflappable manner.

"I'm gonna hear about this at my retirement party," Chris grumped.

"This isn't the worst tale that will follow you to your retirement party," Rob pointed out. Chris looked ready to say something, but Rob held up a hand to stop him. "What did you want me to do? Yell across the assembly hall, 'Hey, Chris, your fly's down'?"

Chris' anger vanished in an instant. "Good point." He clapped Rob on the shoulder. "Got a meeting. See you later."

"What was that all about?" Sarah asked when her husband came into her office.

Rob pilfered a cracker from the dish by Sarah's elbow. "Ah, nothing,"

Sarah decided to pretend she hadn't heard the details of the fight. "How did Chris' speech go?"

"The speech?" Rob swallowed and grabbed another cracker. "Started off a little rough." He headed for the door. "But then he made it up on the fly."

Sarah rolled her eyes.


	9. Form Fitting

Wow, it's been FOREVER since I updated this! Fear not, I haven't forgotten/abandoned it. Real life has just gotten in the way. Here's another offering. Enjoy.

**Chapter 9 – Form Fitting**

"I don't see what the big deal is."

April paused slightly outside Chris' office.

"It's _inappropriate, _Chris." _Ah. Sarah. _

"How?" Chris challenged.

"Komack's going to have your hide when he sees this!"

"No, he won't," Chris negated gently. "And you didn't answer my question. What's inappropriate about this?"

April leaned against the wall. _What are they talking about?_

"Don't you think it's a bit…much?"

"You wouldn't want to know this about a potential yeoman?"

Curiosity peaked, April felt his eyebrows raise.

"It's too much!"

"They're gonna take me away from here and send me to a starbase, and I can't have a little fun with my yeoman's application form?"

"Do you think Rob would write this?" Sarah asked in that mother hen manner of hers.

"Yes!"

April bit his lip to keep from snickering.

"You had to know that was a dumb question," Chris said after a pause.

_OK, I have to know. _April stuck his head in and tried to look as if he hadn't been standing outside listening for the last few minutes. "Hi."

Chris leaned back in his chair. "Hey, Rob."

Sarah spun and fixed him with a stare. "Rob, read this."

April took the proffered PADD. "It's a yeoman form," he said. He looked up at his brother-in-law. "Yours?"

Chris nodded.

The admiral gave the application a cursory glance. "What's the big deal?"

"Read the end." Sarah crossed her arms.

April scrolled down to the bottom of the application.

_Have you ever been involved and/or implicated in a plot to overthrow the United Federation of Planets?_

_If yes, please explain:______________________________________________________________

* * *

_If no, explain what has been stopping you:_____________________________________________


End file.
